that's this complicated. that's -- that's clear. there's -- you know, everyone's seen that. we also do have the fact that the 11th circuit, a conservative circuit she is in reversed her not once but twice. andhose were conservative judges who just thought she was absolutely bonkers in terms of her rulings. >> that was nbc news legal analyst and former federal prosecutor andrew weissmann yesterday weighing in on donald trump's classified documents case. those comments come as another questionable hearing was happening in judge aileen cannon's courtroom. also ahead what we're learning about president biden's debate strategy for dealing with two different versions of donald trump. plus, a long legal battle between the united states and wikileaks founder julian assange peers to be coming to an end. we'll go through the plea deal that was announced overnight. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this tuesday, june 25th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. and we'll begin this morning at camp david where president joe biden is in the middle of intense preparations for this week's highly anticipated debate against donald trump. three people familiar with the biden campaign's plans tell nbc news the president is studying how to best get under trump's skin in order to trigger his opponent at thursday night's debate in atlanta. if trump comes out more disciplined than he usually is, sources say that biden's goal will be to bring out rally trump. one way biden may try to do that, these people say, is by painting the former president as a loser for failing to win the 2020 election. at the same time a biden campaign official stresses there's, quote, a fine line to walk because they still want americans to come away with the impression that the president, president biden, is the adult in the room. biden is expected to stay at camp david for a fifth consecutive day. and he's scheduled to remain there up until the morning of the debate. as for trump's preparations, nbc reported last week the former president was having policy discussions with allies as opposed to formal debate prep sessions. and as we get closer to atlanta, trump is changing his tune what to expect from president biden. after spending years leading republicans and saying biden's mental fitness had dulled, trump is now talking him up, calling biden a worthy debater who destroyed paul ryan when the two men squared off in the 2012 vice presidential debate. now, of course, it is normal for candidates to raise expectations for their opponents ahead of the debate, but trump is adding an additional and unusual layer to that old tactic, insinuating with absolutely no evidence that biden could use performance enhancing drugs to help with his debate performance. trump's allies in congress are also now parroting that baseless claim. former white house doctor turned congressman ronny jackson has called for biden to take a drug test before and after the debate. but when asked if trump, who mind you is only three years younger than biden should also be tested, the congressman said it was a biden-specific concern. and republican congresswoman marionete miller meeks who's also an ophthalmologist had this to say yesterday. >> we anticipate he'll be on something and the response to the press has been to cover it up. we've seen that with karine jean pierre saying these are deep fakes, this is all misinformation. >> this is all completely untrue and deeply irresponsible and not the sort of thing you say, trump and his allies, if you're actually confident how your candidate is going to do in the debate. joining us now white house reporter for "the wall street journal," our friend ken thomas. ken did not take a drug test before appearing this morning. ken, good to see you today. let's just start with this nonsense. tell us how the biden campaign is responding to these accusations and take us behind the scenes and give us more sense how the president is preparing for thursday night. >> yeah, jonathan, they'll note this is not a new thing, this is something trump has brought up previously. we saw a similar line of argument around the "state of the union," and biden officials will say we saw how that turned out, and, you know, it shows that the president can perform on a big stage. i think they just see it as sort of a bizarre line and odd way to set expectations before the debate. i mean i'm old enough to remember, you know, when the george w. bush campaign said that john kerry was the greatest debater since cicero. those are the ways you tend to try to set expectations before the debate. in terms of the preparation i think, you know, right now we're told that bob bauer is, in fact, playing trump in debate prep, in mock sessions. it's a pretty expansive team who's helping the president. i was told brian dees, the former head of the economic counsel will be advising the president ahead of the messaging on the debate. they're trying to bring in experts who can work with him on ways to, you know, talk about the -- the administration's accomplishments. but also importantly i think they see this as a really important way of speaking about what voters would get in a second term. you know, that's not something that president biden has spent a lot of time on, you know, in terms of really painting what that picture would look like in a second term, and i think that's one of the big things that they're trying to accomplish in this debate. >> ken, you're right to point uta pretty big team with the president at camp david, which stands in stark contrast to the very limited one in 2020 because of covid. also, we should note donald trump has yet to make any cicero references. so both of these men on thursday are looking to win over a part of the electorate that, frankly, doesn't like either of them. and that's sort of the thinking from the biden campaign is have this debate early, really reinforce to americans this is your choice. you may not like it, but this is what you've got "a" or "b." and they're betting those voters eventually if they have to hold their nose to do it, will come back to president biden. how is the campaign trying to win those so-called double hater voters? >> i think with trump, i think the hope within his team is that he will stay disciplined and focused on the issues they think really resonate with people and will help them in this election, namely inflation, immigration, crime, issues like that that they think they can use to appeal to voters who just don't seem to be happy right now and have really gone -- grown weary of the entire political system. i think for biden's team it's about, you know, showing the contrast between his approach and trump's approach. and in some ways to allow trump to be trump on the debate stage. you know, as you say, they are preparing for, you know, various versions of trump, but i think that the biden team feels like if nothing else, if we see some bit of that first debate in 2020, that that's going to be really all a lot of these double haters will need. i was also listening to john heilemann's podcast yesterday. he had the former campaign chair, the former campaign manager, and she was saying that they found among moderates, independents, low information voters that these were voters who were all very much aware of the criminal conviction for trump and that they didn't feel like it was a rigged process, they thought it was relevant. and so i think that might be an area if biden brings up the criminal conviction, he's going to use it as a way to appeal those so-called double haters who have been turned off by that in particular. >> certainly we should expect to hear the words "convicted felon" from the stage thursday night. really great insight this morning from ken thomas, white house reporter for "the wall street journal." ken, thank you again. we'll talk to you very soon. a reminder nbc and msnbc will have full coverage of the dabait, which is hosted by cnn this thursday night. and i will be live in atlanta both thursday and friday mornings for "way too early" and "morning joe" to bring you complete coverage of president biden and former president trump go head to head. turning to other news now. the judge presiding over trump's classified documents case reprimanded a prosecutor from special counsel jack smith's office. this happened yesterday during a hearing on a proposed gag order for the former president. judge aileen cannon told the prosecutor, i don't appreciate your tone when the attorney appeared to get exasperated as she questioned the need to modify trump's conditions of release. smith's office has challenged those conditions over trump's false claims that fbi agents were prepared to kill him while they were carrying out a search warrant at his mar-a-lago estate back in 2022. the tense exchange came as the prosecutor was arguing judge cannon should bar trump from making more inflammatory statements about the fbi agents who worked on the investigation. the attorney later apologized and said he didn't come across as unprofessional. at the same time, judge cannon suggested that she was skeptical of the prosecutor's arguments that trump's comments could lead to violence by his supporters. right, because his comments have never led to violence from his supporters before. in the end, judge cannon, who was we should remind you appointed by trump, did not issue a ruling on the prosecutor's request for a gag order. instead she gave both sides until tomorrow to file additional evidence. and the supreme court is now wading into the fight over transgender rights. this fall justices will hear the biden administration's challenge to tennessee's ban on gender affirming care. the new state law bans minors from receiving hormone therapy or puberty blockers. meanwhile, we are, of course, still awaiting supreme court decisions on multiple hot button issues. there are 14 cases left to decide. 14 including donald trump's presidential immunity claim. rulings will be released tomorrow, thursday, and friday, as well as potentially next week. still ahead here on "way too early," a former trump organization employee says she witnessed donald trump make a joke years ago about the holocaust. we'll show you what she had to say about that. plus, what we're learning about a plea deal between wikileaks founder julian assange and the justice department. we'll dive into that as well as other stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. when we come right back ♪ ♪ [ grunts ] [ laughs ] ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit 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there. the synagogue's rabbi says all the properties are in established and legal communities. meanwhile, a former executive for the trump organization says donald trump once made a holocaust joke to his jewish employees. the revolution -- the revelation came sunday during ali velgs ae's interview with a woman named barbara rest. she left the trump organization in 1998 after working there for 18 years. she was asked about trump's bizarre rants during his rallies and whether that was common while she worked for him. take a look. >> it reminds me of a time whether we had just hired residential manager and donald was bragging along the executives, there are four of us, how great the guy was. and he was a real german and he was so neat and clean. and then he looked at a couple of our executives who happened to be jewish and said watch out for this guy, i remember the smile. everybody's was shocked. i couldn't believe he said that, but he was making a joke about the -- the nazi ovens and killing people. >> the ovens. also some breaking news from overnight. nbc news reports that wikileaks founder julian assange plans to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge this week. that's part of a plea deal with the u.s. justice department that will release assange from prison. he spent the last five years jailed in london. the u.s. government alleges that assange partnered with military intel analyst chelsea manning to disclose thousands of sensitive documents relating to u.s. involvement in middle eastern wars and other matters beginning back in 2009. a spokesperson for the national security council said in a statement that this was an independent decision made by the doj. the justice department expects assange to return to his home country of australia after the court proceedings. assange is in transit as we speak, and we will keep you posted. next up here, we'll have the latest on the growing conflict between israel and hezbollah including the biden administration's warning to the 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